Wicked Fate (The Wicked Trilogy) (27 page)

He notices me staring at him and turns his sights on me. Backing away from the hood, he uses t
he back of his arm to wipe sweat from
his forehead. He pulls
the rag out
of his back pocket and starts
wiping the blackness from his hands.

“Thank
you for the flowers,” I blurt
out.

“
You shouldn’t be here
,
Mage.”

“Why not?”
I calmly ask
.

“You know why,
” he won’t look me in the eye
.

“Nothing’s going to happen
,
Adam. It’s been how long now?
Look! I’m still alive!” I say.

I hold my arms up and spin
around.

“Please
,
Mage
,
j
ust leave,” he turns towards the garage to leave.

Anger courses
through my veins.
I’m not going anywhere. I’m sick of being alone, sick of missing him.

I need him more now than ever and it’s time that I get what I want for once. Adam’s not someone I’m
willing to live
w
ithout,
I don’t care what it takes.

Without caring who’s watching, I
po
int to the hood of his truck and i
t
comes down with a loud smash. Finally, he turns and looks at me.

“Don’t
do things like that in the op
en, Mage. My mom might see
you through the window.”

“I don’t care!” I scream
. “I don’t care about any of it anymore!”

Tears gather in my eyes, but I refuse
to let them
drop. I hear thunder from afar, so I try
to calm myself a bit.  He stands there staring at me, before he slowly walks my way. He stops in front of me, anger on his face. Standing my ground, I don’t budge. It’s time he sees
my
determination.

“Y
ou didn’t see
the things I saw,” he whispers
softly. “I neve
r want you to go through that…n
ever. Please don’t do this
,
okay?”

A tear finally escapes and rolls
down my cheek.

“You really have no idea,
do you?” my voice cracks.

“Sure
,
that lady hasn’t come back yet, but how do we know that the moment I come back into your life that won’t
change? We don’t know that
and I won’t put your life in jeopardy no matter what. So
, please don’t ask me to,” his determination is clear.

If my heart wasn’t already breaking, the look on Ad
am’s face would surely do the job. I reach
out
to touch his face and he swats my hand
away.

“Understand
this, nothing those people can do to me can
hurt nearly as bad as I hurt right now.
I miss you, Adam,” another tear falls. “You say the words right now, t
ell me you never want to see me again and I’ll leave. Tell me to get out of your life and never come back and I’ll walk. But everyth
ing has to stop!
No more sending flowers, no more anything. I can’t take this, it’s
making me crazy,” the tears fall harder and it starts
to rain. “If you’re going to take yourself out of my life then let’s do it right. So say the words and I’m gone, that’s the only way I’ll go away.”

I pray deep down inside that he doesn’t
say those wo
rds to me. I don’t think I could
handle him telling me to get out of his life.

My
breath
is ringing in my ears and the rain is splashing against my face. It’s not an angry storm, it’s a gloomy drizzle. I inhale deeply and I wait. Either way, before I leave here today he’
s either going to tell me to get out of his life, or
he’s going to tell me he loves me. I won’t leave
without one or the other.

“I can’t,” he finally says
.

“Say it, Adam!” I yell
.

“
Just go, okay?” he sounds strained and tired.

I point to his truck and it cranks
with a loud roar.

“Say it,” the motor revs loudly
.

He looks around nervously to see if anyone is watching. Let them watch!

“Mage
,
please stop it. I’m not going to tell you those things okay
, so just stop!” he backs away towards his truck.

I rev
the
engine harder and louder. He’s going to say what I want him to say whether he likes
it or not. The tires
on the back of the truck start
to spin hard in the drivewa
y, black rubber sticks to the concrete
. The
smell of burnt rubber assaults my nose, but I won’t let up. The tires squeal
loudly
and the truck doesn’t move.

“
My mom is going to come out here! Stop it!”

He ru
n
s
to the truck and trie
s
to open the driver’s sid
e door, it doesn’t open. I’m not
going to make it that eas
y for him. After realizing the door isn’t going to open, he turns and walks back towards me with a quick and determined stride. His eyes are hard and demanding.

He grabs the tops of my arms and pulls
me to him. B
efore I know what’s about to happen he leans down and kisses
m
e hard. My mind spins
and the sounds of the squealing t
ires and revving engine stop instantly. I kiss him back throwing
my arms around his neck to pull him closer to me.

I kiss him like it’ll
be the las
t time, like I’ve
never kissed
him before. His warm breath blows against my cheek and his tongue tickles mine. I press harder against him, I can’t get close enough. He releases my lips and lays
his forehea
d against mine. His breathing i
s hard and fast.

“I can’t tell you to get out of my life
,
Mage, I can’t. Not when I want you there so bad
ly
.”

“Why?” m
y voice
sounds foreign to my own ears.

“Why, what?” he asks
.

“Why do you want me in your life? Is it because I’m fun to watch or…?”

“You know why,” he says.

He moves away breaking the eye contact.

“I want to hear you say
it,
”
I don’t let up.

That’s an understatement. I don’t
just want to hear him say thos
e three little words; I
need
to hear him say it. My life’s
been one big catastrophe after another
until Adam came around. I need to know that there’
s still s
omething good in my world. I have
to know that j
ust because physically he isn’t
in my life,
mentally and emotionally I’m in his.

He roughly runs
h
is hand through his thick hair, his emerald eyes devour mine
.

“I love you,
Mage. Is that what y
ou want to hear? I think you’
re the brig
htest, most beautiful person I’
ve ever met and I’m not afraid to admit that I’m
crazy about you. Happy?” he asks angrily.

My face hurts from smiling so much and the rain has stopped completely. I don’t predict there to be any rain in the forecast for quite some time—at
least n
ot any rain from me. Adam smiles
s
weetly back at me as if he knows what I’m thinking.

I reach out and grab his face forcing him to me. I s
oftly kiss his lips.

“Then
,
that’s all that matters. I don’t care what happens. There’s no way that I would let anything happen to you and I don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon. I’m not going to have someone tell me who can be in my life and who can’t. I’m not going to let anyone take me away from you, I don’t care who I have to fight or how.”

Before he can
object I put my finger over his lips.

“Let me finish. I
love you
,
too.  You’re the only person left in my life. I’m not going to let anyone make you go away.”

“What do you mean I’m the only person left in your lif
e? What about your grandfather?” he looks concerned.

I don’t
sa
y anything as I shake my head. I can’t bring myself to s
ay it o
ut loud. Adam reaches out and hugs
me close.

“I’m so sorry
, baby
.”

I’m thankful that I’ve
finally broken out of
my shell. I’ve taken the steps
to pu
t Adam back in my life. I look
up at th
e sky—there are a
few rain cloud
s left. That’s not surprising.

What is surprising is the new development that’s occurring. I know when I’
m mad there are thunderstor
ms and small earthquakes. I know
when
I’m sad or upset there’s rain or
blizzard
s
.
Being in love brings about some pretty cool stuff.

I stare
at the multi-colored
spectrums of light that are bouncing off of the clouds
and reflective surfaces.

There’s at least ten
different rainbow strands placed in different locations in the sky
. One comes down and covers me and Adam. There’s so much color you can’t tell where one rainbow ends and the other starts. We’re standing in a rainbow. If that’s the case, then Adam’
s my pot of gold.

In addi
tion to the rainbows, there are
multiple newly sprouted flowers in Adam
’
s front ya
rd. It’s all so beautiful. I hug him close to me and I make a promise to
myself that no matter w
hat, from this moment on, I’ll
protect this.

Chapter
20

The Purple Flames

Adam and I are
inseparable again and soon it’
s spring. Th
e flowers are in full bloom and everything’
s s
o vivid and beautiful. Adam knows everything there is
to kn
ow about me and he’s still here—that’s a good sign.  When I tell him I’m a witch he takes it extremely well. Especially considering it’s not every day someone tells you they’re
a witch.

“I always knew you were a witch,” he joke
s, as he tries to put a puzzle together.

“Yep, that’s me, wart and all,” I stick my tongue out at him.

“Oh! So, that’s what that is?
”
he looks up from his puzzle with a sexy grin.

“You’re impossible,” I say as I pull
out another journal.

“I can assure you I am entirely possible. Want to try me out?”

I pick up the closest book and throw it at him. He laughs.

“So you know I have to ask, right?” he smirks.

“Ask what?”

“Did you put one of your freaky-weird-girl spells on me?” he lifts his brow.

He leaves the desk and si
t
s
on the floor next to me.

“No, I didn’t put any spell on you. I don’t
even know any spells, except the ones in these journals. I wouldn’t
do that, jerk” I jokingly push
him away. “Why would you even ask
me that
?”

“I don’t know….”

“Yes you do, tell me.
”

“It’s just sometimes I
feel like I’m under
some kind of spell. It’s crazy, a
few mo
nths ago I was just doing me,
chillin
’ out and being carefree.  And then we started hanging out and I’ve changed somehow.
I’ve always fo
und you interesting, but now…now
when you’re not near me I feel like I can’t breathe.
I’ve never been like that with a
girl,
it kind of freaks me out.
”